Author: flipaoXIX

Dough Ingredients (12 units):

• 660g strong flour
• 75g sugar
• 5g salt
• 60g unsalted butter
• 30g liquid egg
• 20g dry yeast
• 150g warm water
• 150g milk

Filling/Coating

• egg wash
• 100ml boling water + 100g sugar + cinnamon stick + star anise
• jam
• double cream: whipped + vanilla essence or 1tsp of coffee.

Process

• Warm water and milk at body temperature. Then add yeast and mix.
• In a bowl, mix flour, salt and sugar. Then rubber the butter until you have a breadcrumb look mix.
• Add egg to the milk and mix.
• Add liquid mix to the flour.
• Mix all together until forming a ball.
• Knead on the table until you have a smooth ball. When you poke it, it should spring back in slow motion. For 7-10 minutes aprox.
• Put the dough in the bowl, with a bit of oil, cover with cling film and let it prove until double in size. This is the most difficult thing to do at home. Try to put in a switch-on oven with a bit of boiling water in a small pan to simulate a proving machine (40C?). In a proving machine takes 1h.
• In a lightly flour surface, tip your dough and roll it as a long ping. Use a scale and cut 12 pieces. It should be 92g each aprox.
• With each piece, make a ball, with one plant of your hand, push to the table and start rolling releasing pressure until a ball forms. Put each ball in a tray with baking paper. Cover the pieces while you make the balls.
• Prove the balls again until double in size. Try the oven again with a bit of boiling water. 1h aprox. You can as well, try donuts with a whole. Just with a dusted finger, make a whole in the middle and spin the dough. Be sure the whole is quite big in diameter and when it proves may close.
• Second most difficult part. Deep frying. Keeping the temperature is critical so your will need a temperature prove and patience. Be sure the oil is at 170C. Add two balls (max) in you have a deep fryer. If you use a sauce pan, fry one ball at each time. Fry aprox for 1 minute each side. Ideally you should have a white lien in the middle. If the oil is below 170C the donuts will get soggy, too hot, they will burn. So again, be patience.
• As well, you can bake in the oven, aprox 10 minutes at 180C. Just give it an egg wash and bake until golden. Use a toothpick to check they are baked inside. Then give it a sugar-water coating immediately after taking out of the oven.
• For the deep-fry donuts, let them cool down. Then coat them with a mix of sugar/cinnamon.
• Now you can add the fillings. With a knife, make a hole in the white line and pipe your filling. For the oven ones, cut in the middle around 3/4 and pipe your fillings.

This is my outcome:

I filling some with coffee cream, jam and plain cream.

They were really nice. I didnt expect this result. Again, critical is the proving and deep frying at the correct temperature.

Soda Bread Ingredients:

• 170g self raising flour
• 170g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 290ml (1/2 pint) buttermilk

Soda Bred Process:

• Pre-heat oven at 200C
• Mix the flours, salt and bicarbonate into a large bowl.
• Make a well in the center and pour the buttermilk, mixing with a fork to form a soft dough.
• Knead for 3-4 minutes in a lightly floured surface.
• Form a ball with the sides of your hands, flatten a bit the top.
• Cut the ball in 8 pieces with a big knife. Use a bit of oil so the knife doesn’t stick.
• Let is rest for 15 minutes. Prepare a tray lightly floured.
• Bake for 30 minutes. Check with a toothstick that comes out clean. And it should sound hollow when tapping the bottom.
• Cool in a wire rack.

Ingredients for Peshwari Naan Bread:

• 3/4 tsp instant yeast
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 60ml body temperature water
• 140g plain flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 60ml/54g Greek style yogurt
• 1/2 tsp vegetable oil

Naan Filling:

• 28g butter
• 1 tbsp desiccated coconut
• 24g raisins
• 22g almonds

Naan Process:

• Mix yeast, sugar and water. Wait a 1-2 minutes until the liquid is a bit bubbly.
• Mix flour and salt in a bowl
• Add the water mix to the yogurt and oil.
• Add the yogurt mix to the flour. Mix well with a fork
• Knead for 5 minutes. It is going to be sticky. Add a bit extra flour if needed.
• Put the dough back in a lightly oiled bowl.
• Let is prove until double in size. 1h at least
• Prepare the filling. In a chopping board put all ingredients but butter. Chopped all them until they are fine.
• Add the butter, mix all ingredients and form 3 balls.
• Once the dough has risen. Divide in 3 parts.
• With a lightly floured rolling pin, roll each dough into a small circle, put a piece of butter in the middle. Wrap it with the rest of dough.
• Roll the dough ball with the pin trying to form an eye-drop. It should be quick, not many passes with the pin.
• Put the naans on a ligthly floured towel.
• Heat up a skillet. Once hot, (just a drop of oil), put a naan. Wait until puffs up and start to get brown dots in the bottom.
• Flip and wait for the same. Check it doesnt burn! Likely less than 1 minute.
• Repeat for the other naans.

This is the result:

The soad bread was very tasty and super quick to make!!!

The naans were tasty too. I guess the filling can be very different.

I had aquafaba left over from making humus and always wanted to do something simple with it. As well, it has been a long time since I do brownies. So found a recipe that mixed both:

Ingredients:

• Liquid from a can of chickpeas (around 120ml)
• 290g sugar (I think it is too much)
• 150g dark chocolate (I used 85% dark) chopped
• 110g margarine
• 180g plain flour
• 40g cocoa powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp coffee powder
• optional: chocolate chips (I didnt use…)
• 2 handful of frozen cherries

Process:

• Pre-heat oven at 175C
• Let the frozen cherries to get to room temperature. Dont add them frozen to the butter (as I did…) as it will solidify it….
• Sift flour and cocoa powder.
• In another bowl, mix sugar and aquafaba. I dont have a mixing attachment to my hand blender so I did it manually. I didnt get to the point as in the video.
• Add the vanilla, salt, coffe to the liquid. Fold it with a spatula.
• Melt the margarine and chocolate using Bain Marie. I ran out of bowl and had to use a saucepan directly on the heat….
• Pour the melted chocolate over the aquafaba mix. Fold everything together.
• Add the flour mix to the wet ingredients. Combine properly but dont over mix.
• Add the chocolate chips and cherries if you want to. Mix all a bit.
• Pour the butter into a baking tin covered with baking paper. Mine is 30x20cm and I think it is a bit too big. You dont have to spread the butter everywhere if you want a bit thicker brownies.
• Bake for 30-35 minutes. Use a toothpick to check if the center comes out with a bit of moister. Dont over bake it! (as I did)
• Let the brownies to cool for 0 minutes then you can cut them.

To be honest, I made many mistakes. The worse one was adding the cherries frozen!!! And I left the brownies too long in the oven. As usual, more practice!!!

I think my normal brownies are much better but still it was a way to use aquafaba. Need to find more usage for that anyway.

This dough can be used for pizza too. And the filling is quite personal.

Ingredients for dough (x2 calzone)

• 225g plain or strong white flour + dusting
• 90ml milk warmed at body temperature
• 50ml water warmed at body temperature
• 1 tsp dried yeast
• 25ml olive oil
• pinch salt

Filling:

• cherry tomatoes
• 1 mozzarella roughly chopped
• any cold meat if you wish
• capers, oregano
• grated parmesan
• olive oil
• some slices of onion
• some tbsp of tomate sauce

Process

• Sift the flour and salt in a bowl.
• Warm the milk and water in a saucepan. Just body temperature! If too hot, will kill the yeast. Add the dry yest and mix.
• Add the milk mix to the flour, mix a bit and then add oil. Mix well.
• Knead until smooth and the window test passes.
• Let me it proof until double in size.
• Pre-heat oven at 250C.
• Mix all your filling ingredients in a bowl.
• Dive the dough in two, roll in a big circle around 23cm or so.
• Put the filling in the middle. Dont put too much so you need to “close” the dough.
• Brush the dough edges with water, then fold half the side over to cover the filling.
• Pinch the edges “covering your thumb”.
• White a knife score the top of your calzone.
• Bake until dough is golden.

It looks like a big “empanada” but still was good.

To be honest, I need to practice more my pizza dough. It is quite far from any good pizza I have tried.

This is typical sweet from my hometown and never tried to bake it until yesterday. I have been in the bakery (“horno”) twice in the last two years and just got an idea of the ingredients but never been brave enough to ask for the proportions so this is just a guess…

Ingredients:

• 200ml water + 25g sugar + 2 star anise
• 100ml orange juice
• 200ml olive oil
• 400g strong white flour (harina pastelera)
• 120g caster sugar
• 50ml anise (43%) – I used sambuca

Process:

• Boil the water, sugar and star anise. Let it simmer for 5 minutes. Then cool down.
• In a bowl, mix all ingredients. Just add 150ml from the water mix above.
• Knead for 15-20 minutes until smooth. It doesnt stick much as it has lot of oil.
• Let the dough to rest for 30 minutes in the bowl.
• Using a scale, make 6 balls, aprox 150g each. Be sure they are tight balls.
• Let them rest for 1h or so in a tray with a bit of flour as anti-stick. I used two trays. The idea is to try to prove the balls (in my case it didnt happen…)
• Pre-heat oven at 175C
• Make a hole in the middle, like a “rosquilla” and the try to make “picos” in the sides. I failed miserably with the “picos”.
• Put one tray in the oven, bake until golden.
• Bake the second tray.
• Let the “rosquillos” to cool down.

My version:

The real deal:

So still a bit off target 🙂

The real “rosquillos” uses only anise (liquor). But it can be dangerous to use at home because if the oven has not good ventilation, the alcohol can blow it, so for that reason I just used it a bit and try to replace it with the water+star anise.

In summary, my version is eatable. I didnt have to throw them away so that’s a win at the end. The flavour is still far from the original but tasty nonetheless.

Another thing, I had the oven at 230C initially so the first batch went to dark and inside wasnt very well cooked. And this morning were quite hard. I remember the original ones go hard too but no the next day. Still it was tasty today though.

So possible modifications/incognitas:

• Bake at 175C (already updated instructions)
• Less olive oil, 150ml?
• A bit more anise alcohol?
• how to make them prove?

I guess I will try again soon as the process and ingredients are not “difficult”. It was to find a decent proportion. Hopefully next year I will go back to the bakery and ask for the proportions.

2nd Attempt:

• 150ml water + 25g sugar + 2 star anise
• 100ml orange juice
• 100ml olive oil
• 450g strong white flour (harina pastelera)
• 120g caster sugar
• 50ml anise (43%) – I used sambuca

Super sticky dough, not much better 🙁

3nd Attempt:

• 100ml orange juice
• 150ml olive oil
• 450g strong white flour (harina pastelera)
• 120g caster sugar
• 100ml anise (43%) – I used sambuca

No sticky dough (good to remove water+sugar+anise), but still not raising. It releases liquid…. I think I need to put less liquid (of everything)?? It is the flour correct? The recipe needs “Harina Pastelera” and when asked what was the difference I was told it was the “strength” so I have assumed I need “strong” white flour… Next time I will try to make “Harina Pastelera”.